Longarm
by jajenshadimose6012
Summary: I saw a western called "Longarm" at Walmart and had to have Rose crack a joke about it to Dimitri, so this fic is pretty much, she's been guarding Lissa nonstop since her coronation and Lissa forces her to take time off with Dimitri.
1. Chapter 1

"Dear God, Rose, you have really honed up that talent of sleeping while standing with your eyes wide open, haven't you?" Lissa's voice called, amusement twinkling in her eye, as she stood before me, snapping me out of the trance I had been trapped in since the day she took the throne.

With guardian-reflexes, my head jerked toward her, my eyes instinctively taking in every inch of her, looking for any sign of injury or danger. It took me a moment to finish my assessment of her and process her words. "Huh?" was all I could manage to say. My voice came out as a croak since I was so groggy from my constant lack of sleep as of late.

Her knowing smirk twitched a little. "Rose," she said, an almost reprimanding note to her voice. "It's been two months." Disapproval radiated off of her and I was pretty sure she was seconds away from tapping her foot impatiently.

I shifted restlessly. "Hey, I am no longer a part of your sex life," I reminded her, with a slight shrug. "It ain't my fault if Christian can't get it up no more."

"Rose!" she cried out, appalled, and I had the feeling that she wanted to smack my arm.

"What?" I asked, startled by the vehemence in her voice.

"You know what," she accused. "It has been two months since the bond disappeared and you have been on guard, 24/7, every single minute since then. You have not left my side since I took the throne, and that is not good for you."

I rolled my eyes. "Forget it, Liss. I'm fine. And, I am not leaving you, no matter what, so don't even think about suggesting it."

"Rose, how much sleep have you actually gotten in the past two months?" she demanded, crossing her arms stubbornly across her chest and regarding me expectantly.

I gave a careless shrug. "Couple hours every three nights or so—give or take a millisecond."

Her eyes widened in shock. She, apparently, hadn't realized just how much sleep I had forgone to maintain the role of her dutiful watchdog. "Rose, you need to sleep. That is not healthy. You can't just give up sleep and stay by side every second of the day to ensure my safety—"

"The hell I can't! I'm not going anywhere, Liss. I don't need sleep, I'm fine. Your safety is far more important than my total lack of a need for some decent shut-eye."

"Yeah, okay, you're totally gonna be able to take on the next pack of Strigoi that attacks when you charge into battle then fall flat on your face from your total_ lack_ of some decent shut-eye."

"We are done talking about this," I said adamantly. "So just drop it."

"Okay. Am I going to have to get Dimitri in here to come haul your ass out? You know he'll do it."

"Lissa, ever since the attack that night at dinner, I refuse to ever leave your side. _Ever_. Do you understand that? I cannot risk anything happening to you—don't you get that? I have to protect you."

"Yeah, and I have, like, 50 other people here to protect me, Rose. You aren't the only one designated to keep me safe, you know. Other guardians are just as capable as you are—"

"But they're not me," I said, a note of desperation in my voice that startled even me. "I don't doubt their capabilities, but I can't trust that anyone can protect you as well as I can." I reconsidered. "Aside from Dimitri, of course. And, if I do this, if I go get some sleep and something happens to you and I could've been here to stop it—"

"There will be plenty of other people here to stop what you can't," she told me gently. "I can't count on you to protect me 24/7, Rose. _You_ can't count on you to protect me 24/7. You have your own life you need to live. You have your own boyfriend who needs his downtime with you as well. This isn't just for your benefit. It's for his as well."

"Believe me, Liss, if anyone understands this, it's Dimitri," I said, deadpan, turning my attention back to the rest of the room to do my periodic routine check. Yep. Free and clear…for now.

"And if anyone understands how much you need sleep, it's Dimitri," she shot back. "He's worried about you too, you know. And Christian. It's not just me. We all need you to just, you know…take some time off. Blow off some steam. Just relax and have some you-time."

I stared. "I wouldn't even know what to do with me-time."

"Well, how about you spend some time with Dimitri? Did you ever think of that? He misses you, and I know you miss him too. This could be your chance to just hang out together without any worries. Just focus on each other. Badass as you might be, even you two need your moments of rest. Your moments of downtime to just be alone together."

"Lissa, neither one of us knows how to not worry about you. That's not in our nature. We can't just focus on each other when you have so many people gunning for you, as great as that sounds. The…focusing on each other part, not the people gunning for you part," I clarified, my exhaustion starting to confuse me. She laughed and I continued on with my noble protection speech. "Liss, my whole life has always centered around you, my whole universe practically revolving around you. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I wasn't looking out for you. Neither would Dimitri. Looking out for you, it's not just our job. It's who we are. Please try to understand that."

"I do. Believe me, I do. And as flattering as that is, Rose…you both need to broaden your horizons just a bit. You especially need to learn how to have some you-time and just worry about yourself for once."

"Lissa, the bond is gone," I said boldly, in case she had forgotten that fact. "Do you not understand how agonizing that is for me? I won't know if anything happens to you, if you're in trouble. I will have no way of knowing if you're okay."

She chuckled softly. "Oh, you have relied on magic far too long, my dear. You see, apparently there is this new device called a cellular phone? Yes, you need to learn the magic of that particular method and put those to use instead of relying on the magical forces of, well…magic."

She smiled at the blank look that crossed my face. "Rose, look, I'm glad that you care so much about me, I am. It means a lot that you dedicate so much of yourself to me…more than you'll ever know. But now, I am asking you to do this for me. I'm asking you to dedicate yourself to you, just for now."

My gaze drifted from hers and my expression darkened. "You can't ask that of me, Liss."

"Too late, I already did. I'm not just asking anymore. I'm telling. And, I'm the queen so you have to do what I say."

My eyes met hers again then narrowed. "Nice try. That's not going to work."

"Rose. Please, okay? Just do this for me. I'll be okay, I promise. I'm sitting through a bunch of boring council meetings for hours on end tomorrow anyway. The whole damn room is going to be on lockdown with every single guardian at Court in attendance—no one's getting in or getting out of that room, period. And Christian will be there to incinerate anyone who tries."

I scoffed. "That is so not funny."

"No, what's not funny is that you are making me watch you destroy yourself for my sake. Rose, every day, I see you dragging ass, just struggling to keep your eyes open. You. Need. To. Sleep. If nothing else, at least give me a full eight hours of sleep. You owe me that."

I grimaced. "I don't owe you a damn thing." I sighed at last. "Fine. I'll…sleep. _But_—" There was a warning note in that one word that made her flinch. "—you will call me _immediately_ if anything goes down. _Anything_. You will drag my ass out of bed whether I've had two hours of sleep or two seconds. You will call me before and after each council meeting. Your phone will remain on at all times—Christian's too—and if you think for one second that I—"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, thank you, _Mom_. I remember the guidelines of the rulebook of Rose Hathaway quite vividly when it comes to the act of guarding. You gave me a two days straight lesson on exactly how our guardian-Moroi relationship would play out, remember? No one was allowed to see or talk to me in that time, and I wasn't allowed to even nod off without getting in trouble. Remember? '_Liss!_'" she snapped, in an amusing, but quite accurate impersonation of my own voice. "_'If you nod off one more time in this, you're grounded!_'"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, whatever, I never said you were grounded."

"Okay. Bottom line. I get the gist. Now, you go get some sleep. Before I really do call Dimitri down here to come drag you back to your bedroom."

I snorted. "I'd like to see him try."

"From what I recall from your first week of guarding me, I believe I _did_ see him try—and succeed—in dragging you back to your bedroom to force you to go get some sleep."

I stared at her, not at all amused. "Liss, two times that happened!"

"Mm, three," she corrected. "But who's counting?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Well, not you, apparently."

She smiled at me, a much warmer and gentler smile. "Good night, Rose."

"Yeah, yeah. Good night." I strode boldly across the room and as soon as the door closed behind me, I could've sworn I heard Christian emerge from their bedroom and say to Lissa: "Damn. Guess I owe you twenty bucks."

I could hear the smile still in Lissa's voice when her response came. "Mm, I believe the bet was for 50. And I'll just settle for a decent night in the bedroom, if you're game."

I stifled a gagging noise before scurrying out of the royal chambers, suddenly very grateful that I wasn't there to stay on duty tonight after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Upon entering our suite, I shut the door quietly behind me—so quietly, in fact, that I had to turn around to make sure it had actually caught. Then, I spun back around and came to an abrupt stop at what I was met with: Dimitri was lying on our bed, with his long legs crossed at the ankles, an old, battered western in his hands, and his head lolling back against the headboard. I could pretty much guess what had happened. He had gotten off guard duty, then came back to the room to wait for me, started reading a western, then nodded off while reading.

Chuckling softly to myself, I shook my head before approaching the bed. "Wow, a western so boring, it puts even _you_ to sleep," I declared, my voice not overly loud, but loud enough to startle him out of sleep.

His grip on the book was pretty loose as it was, but the sudden movement sent the book falling out of his hands. He tried to catch it, but his lack of coordination due to how tired he was made it a lost cause. The book landed on the floor with the slightest of whooshes.

A smirk twitched at my lips. "Never thought I'd see the day," I teased.

"Hey, you," he replied groggily, rewarding me with one of his rare, genuine smiles. He leaned forward to grab a hold of my hands when I reached the bedside, then helped me sit down on the edge of the bed beside him. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah, you're telling me," I said. I reached down to pick up the western and turned it around so I could look at the front cover. I choked on a snort when I read the title. "'Long Arm'? Dear God, comrade, is that supposed to be, like, a penis metaphor or something?"

He smirked, then gave a slight careless shrug. "Yeah, well. I figured I could really relate to the title. You know. We tend to have quite a few, ah...factors in common."

I raised an eyebrow in curiosity at that. I had finally mastered raising only one eyebrow like Dimitri could. It took me forever, but somehow, I managed it. I was quite proud of myself for that particular accomplishment, I've gotta say. "Oh?" I asked in amusement. "Really, you don't say. And how, may I ask, do you relate to that title? Exactly which factors would you be referring to?"

He shifted to his knees on the bed and then moved over to draw me into his embrace. "Mmm, I think you know, Roza," he said, his smile shifting into something more suggestive. His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me to him, and his lips lightly brushed against my cheek. "I think you know," he repeated. His breath was warm against my cheek, tickling my skin.

My smile faltered slightly and my breath hitched in response to both his the tone of his voice and the content of his words altogether. I pressed even closer to him, instinctively molding my body into his. "I see. Well, I do have to say I think it would be completely fair to agree with that particular notion."

"Mmm..." He chuckled softly and tightened his hold on me as he shifted so that his lips hovered just inches above my own. "So..." he began, his voice surprisingly conversational, considering the circumstances. "How was your day?" His lips briefly brushed against mine, but he didn't bother deepening the kiss.

"Never-ending and exhausting," I groaned. "But considering our current position, I don't really wanna talk about my day. Something tells me it pales in comparison to the excitement of what's about to take place."

He kissed me softly, just once. "Okay, then. What do you wanna talk about?"

"Absolutely nothing," I murmured, as his fingers drifted to the buttons on my shirt. "I don't want to talk, period."

"No?" he whispered, his finger deftly brushing against one button before undoing it. "Then, enlighten me." He popped another button open. Then another. And another. "What exactly…" His parted, trembling lips hovered above the skin of my cheek. "…do you want to do?"

"What, you want me to spell it out for you or something?" I teased, right as the last button popped free and he spread the shirt open and slid it free from my shoulders, letting it drop to the ground.

"Or something," he agreed, slowly tracing his fingertips back up my arms. He tilted his head so that his lips were right at my ear. "I think I want you to beg for it."

"Oh, really?" I asked, proud at my ability to sound so amused even while turned-on. "You're really gonna go there? You really wanna play this game?"

"I _really_ do," he taunted, as his index finger looped through my bra strap, slowly dragging it down so that it hung off my shoulder. Then, he caressed my now bare shoulder with the back of his hand before moving it back over so that he trailed the back of his knuckles in a perfect line between my breasts down to my stomach.

"Beg me," he continued, now brushing his fingertips ever-so-gently against my skin, following that line once again. His fingers froze on the spot just between my breasts and just rested there. I could actually feel them trembling against my skin and the thought of how much I affected him made my breathing turn erratic.

"You are seriously mistaken if you think, for one second, that that is gonna be enough to crack me, comrade," I said, trying to sound bold and authoritative, though my voice faltered slightly between words.

Then, in an attempt to make him think I was really the one in control of this situation, I reached forward and tugged his t-shirt up and over his head, discarding it on the floor beside my shirt.

"And, I believe past history has proven…" I continued, slowly sliding my hands up his now bare chest and draping my arms over his shoulders. "…that, more often than not, you are the one to crack before I do in these particular situations."

I pulled him to me and pressed my lips against his in an ardent kiss. His lips instantly responded, pressing more eagerly into mine and moving against mine with a sense of such urgency and desperation. I buried my hands in his hair, my hands almost possessively twining with the individual strands, almost like if I didn't hold on to him tight enough, he might fall through my grasp and be forever lost to me.

Following suit, one of his hands moved up to grip my hair and in his desperation, he tugged my head back to make kissing me all the easier. His tongue was soon buried in the depths of my mouth, twining harmoniously with my own. Then, as standard procedure called for, he pulled our joined tongues into his own mouth, seeming rather intent on sucking my own tongue down his throat.

Meanwhile, his other hands moved over to hover just above my right breast. He gently moved the cup to the side and maneuvered himself so that his head was now right beside my now exposed breast. Then, he lowered his parted lips to my breast—his hot breath now flowing against my breast—as he took the already-hardened in between his lips and began sucking urgently on it. "Roza," he breathed against my skin.

A soft whimper escaped my lips and my hands instinctively tightened its grip on his hair, pressing his head even harder against my breast. He tightened his hold on me and began sucking even harder until the skin there actually turned red, and I was pretty sure I would have a hickey there later. Damn. Good thing that's a place no one else sees.

I released my hold on him and made to kiss him again, my lips unconsciously seeking out his, when the world around me began spinning and I suddenly collapsed weakly against his chest without warning.

"I—uh…Roza. Roza?" Confusion instantly replaced his arousal, followed by realization. "Rose?" He chuckled softly, but his voice was now distorted. My mind was drowning in its delirium and nothing made sense anymore. "Okay. Another time then," was the last thing I heard, and I couldn't even be sure that that was exactly what he had said..

And the lights were out long before my head had even fully collided with his chest. I have a vague recollection of his arms winding around me, wrapping me in his warm, welcoming embrace, as the depths of unconsciousness claimed me, my body's exhaustion winning out over its desires.


End file.
